What happens if I miss a day?
If you miss a day, there is no need to worry. There are two spare days per week and you can make up the missing health snacks on one of these days.
What happens if I come home from work after a busy day exhausted and don’t have the time and energy to do my three health snacks?
If this happens, I would recommend that you try your best to get at least one health snack fully completed—it will only take you five minutes. This helps you to maintain momentum, which is a key ingredient in making long-term behavior change.
An alternative is to do 1–2 minutes on each of your three health snacks. Again, this will only take you a few minutes in total and helps keep up momentum. Feel Better in 5 is about building up daily habits for life. Doing a little is better than doing nothing—in fact, spending a few minutes on your health snacks will probably make you feel less exhausted!
What if I do a health snack but don’t manage the full five minutes?
If you don’t manage the full five minutes, that is perfectly OK. The important thing is that you do something. Of course, I would prefer you to do the full duration of health snack but I don’t want you to get into that “all or nothing” mindset. Even doing two minutes of deep breathing or two minutes of a gratitude practice will still yield benefits, and importantly, will keep up momentum.
Can I start the program off more slowly?
Absolutely. If you feel that it may be too challenging to introduce three different health snacks per day into your life in one go, I would recommend you start off at a slightly slower pace. In Week One, I would recommend that you start off by doing only one health snack on each of your Feel Better days. During this first week, try really hard to do your chosen five-minute health snack in the same place and at the same time each day. This will make it much more likely you will be able to consistently perform it.
At the start of Week Two, add in your second health snack from a different menu. For example, if your first health snack was from Mind, then choose a health snack from Body or Heart instead. In Week Two, you will be doing two health snacks per day. Remember, this will only take you ten minutes in total. In Week Three, add in your third health snack from a different menu, to bring you up to fifteen minutes per day.
The key to successful behavior change is to start small and slowly install new habits into your life.
Do I need to do my health snacks at different times of the day?
Absolutely not—you can personalize this program to suit your life and do your three health snacks at times that suit you and your daily routine. If you prefer, you can do all three health snacks one after the other. In fact, many of my patients like to wake up and do all three health snacks right away, as part of their morning routine. This means that within fifteen minutes of waking up, they have completed their entire program for the day!
What if I don’t manage to complete all three health snacks in one day and manage only one or two?
If you only manage to complete one or two health snacks on a particular day, you will still gain benefits. If this happens, you can either double up on the one you missed the following day or make it up on one of your free days. The goal is to get those fifteen ticks, five days per week, week after week, month after month. Remember, Rome was not built in a day.
If I already go to the gym, cycle regularly or do a weekly fitness class, can I miss out the Body health snack?
If you regularly attend a health class or gym, that is fantastic. However, it is not a substitute for my Feel Better in 5 program. This plan is about creating new daily habits. It is these daily habits that create your short-term and long-term health, NOT the once a week gym session.
A daily Body health snack will actually enhance your other movement activities. If you are already fairly active, why not choose a health snack from “Body” that works on a different aspect of your health. For example, if you run and cycle already, why not do five minutes of restorative yoga poses each day or a five-minute strength workout, like The Classic Five. One of my close friends is a keen runner and cycles to work, every day. He did not think that my program was for him, yet within two weeks of doing it, he found he could run further, cycle up hills for longer and had more energy.
When done consistently, these small daily habits will have a huge impact on your health and wellbeing.